Atari's Breathtaking The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Blazes Its Way to North American Retail

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The successor to the acclaimed RPG is now available.

By IGN Staff

Atari is reaching new heights as it ships today The Witcher: Enhanced Edition for Windows PC retailers across North America. The successor to The Witcher, which was billed by many as the BEST RPG of 2007 and won numerous awards and accolades, The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, developed by CD Projekt RED, is rated M for Mature and is available for the suggested retail price of $39.99.

"We have really listened to what the fans wanted and have their best interests at heart. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition has given us the opportunity to put their feedback into action as well as offer something totally new with exclusive content," said Adam Kicinski, CEO of CD Projekt RED. "The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is truly an experience you won't want to miss, packed with gameplay improvements and additional physical value. We believe that it is definitely the ideal game for fans of PC role-playing."

Technical enhancements include faster loading times with improved combat responsiveness and precision. The enhanced version will feature two new adventures in the world of The Witcher offering hours of new content, as well as more than 200 new animation sequences, greater NPC (non-playable character) variety, an easier-to-use inventory and much more. Moreover, following feedback from fans, the English script has been re-worked, while extensive amounts of the voice-over has been re-recorded for the English and German versions -- all to deliver an even more immersive and involving story experience. All of the enhancements will be available as a free download to existing game owners via the game's official website, www.thewitcher.com.

The deluxe package will also include:

Multilanguage The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, a reworking of the best PC RPG of 2007;

DVD bonus disc including the D'jinni Adventure Editor and two brand new adventures created by CD Projekt RED:

the D'jinni Adventure Editor: allows players to create or modify their own adventures in the world of The Witcher;

"The Price of Neutrality": the adventure tells the story of Geralt coming back to Kaer Morhen and finding a mysterious camp near the stronghold (featuring 3 new quests);

"Side Effects": the first ever release of this new adventure which focuses on Geralt's close friend, Dandelion, and his troubles in Vizima City (featuring 5 new quests);

Remastered "Making Of" DVD with never-before-seen bonus material;

The Witcher Official Soundtrack CD;

CD of original music inspired by The Witcher;

Instruction manual available on disc and a physical game guide;

Short story by Andrzej Sapkowski featuring new monster artwork;

A map for exploration throughout The Witcher 's world.

Based on the universe created by best-selling Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher puts players in the role of Geralt, a professional monster slayer who exists on the fringes of a complex society in a fantasy universe. Taken as a child, mutated, and trained in the arcane ways of the witchers, Geralt is a reluctant hero, who nonetheless finds himself all too frequently in the heat of battles that are not his own. In this world there is no right or wrong, only decisions and consequences. The Witcher has already garnered worldwide success, having sold over 800,000 copies, and has received more than 90 awards and distinctions, including the prestigious "Best PC RPG of 2007" from IGN.com, Gamespy.com, PC Gamer and more (for the full list of awards, please visit http://www.thewitcher.com/community/pl/awards/).

For more information about The Witcher visit www.thewitcher.com and for more details about Atari's entire product line up visit www.atari.com.

About CD Projekt RED

CD Projekt RED is the development branch of CD Projekt, headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. The studio's first release, the PC-exclusive role-playing game, The Witcher®, has won over critics and gamers with its refreshing blend of engrossing story and action-based combat. The game has sold more than 800,000 copies worldwide and has garnered more than 90 awards since its release in October 2007, including PC RPG of the Year from such respected outlets as PC Gamer, GameSpy, IGN and GameStar. CD Projekt RED's 80+ employees are keeping busy with the impending release of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition in September 2008, as well as three unannounced projects. For more information about CD Projekt RED, visit http://www.thewitcher.com.

About CD Projekt

Founded in 1994, CD Projekt is one of Eastern and Central Europe's largest game distributors, with offices in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, and employs more than 250 people across its diverse businesses. The company has used innovative marketing and distribution practices to invigorate the Polish games market and to position itself as a leader in the localisation and publishing of world-class games, having brought such hits as the Neverwinter Nights, Diablo and Warcraft series to the region with great success. CD Projekt Group includes the publishing and distribution companies in Poland, Czech, Slovakia and Hungary; the dedicated Localisation Centre, which is the leading provider of cross-platform porting, quality assurance and localisation services in the region; CD Projekt RED, the development branch responsible for the hit role-playing franchise, The Witcher; Metropolis Software, currently developing the anticipated multiplatform sci-fi shooter, THEY; and gog.com, the ultimate online destination for DRM-free classic PC games. More information about CD Projekt can be found online at www.cdprojekt.com.

About Atari, Inc.

One of the world's most recognized brands, New York-based Atari, Inc. is a third-party publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles include hard-core, genre-defining franchises such as Test Drive and mass-market and children's franchises such as Dragon Ball Z. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext – ISIN: FR-0000052573), the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. For more information, visit www.atari.com.

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